CINCINNATI – It was all right there for the taking. The moment Logan Johnson teleported toward Memphis’ Jeremiah Martin, snatching away a last-ditch outlet pass and securing a 71-69 victory for the Bearcats on Saturday night, the implications for the week ahead also shifted from the peripheral to front-and-center. If UC can beat Central Florida on the road on Thursday and Houston at home on Sunday, the rest of the American Athletic Conference will have to bend the knee for the second year in a row. The Bearcats “control their own destiny” – the most prized oxymoron in all of sports.

“We’re built different. We’re built different than a lot of teams think we are,” said Johnson of the team’s continued ability to pull out tight wins. “We’re not going to stop. We’re going to fight, every second of the game.”

It started well before Johnson’s optical illusion of a steal, obviously. Before Jarron Cumberland...